Recent Responses
Does loving (eros, agape, and/or philia) someone presuppose having respect for them? Or is there some way we can make sense of the claim, "I love X, but I do not respect X" or "I love X, but I am not compelled to act in a respectful way toward X"?
Alan Soble
November 12, 2005
(changed November 12, 2005)
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Of course we can "make sense" of the claim that xLy yet -xRy. Iunderstand the claim or the sentence perfectly well. The moreinteresting way to phrase the question is the first: does xLypresuppose xRy, or is xRy a necessary condition of (necessary for) xLy,such that -xRy entails -xLy or that... Read more
Are there actions which are morally permissable when undertaken by a group but which would be immoral if performed by an individual?
Peter S. Fosl
November 12, 2005
(changed November 12, 2005)
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An important philosophical consideration here before you get going on this issue is deciding what you mean by a group. In particular, you might consider whether you buy into what's been called methodological holism which means here, basically, that the whole is more than the sum of its p... Read more
Socrates said, "All I know is that I know nothing". What I'm trying to figure out is this: if I know NOTHING, how do I KNOW that I know nothing? It just goes round in circles thus becoming nothing more than a paradox. Would you agree?
Jyl Gentzler
November 13, 2005
(changed November 13, 2005)
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Peter is right. Many have taken the Socrates of Plato’s early dialogues to be a skeptic at least with regard to knowledge of the most worthwhile things. My own view is that, at least as he’s represented in the Platonic dialogues, Socrates is not a skeptic. He did not believe that it wa... Read more
Is it morally wrong to make someone happy by telling them an amusing story about a third party's bad misfortune?
Peter Lipton
November 12, 2005
(changed November 12, 2005)
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I can't tell it the way he can, but Woody Allen has a story about how he had a chest pain and was very worried that he had a serious heart problem. Being too cheap to pay for the tests, he convinces his friend, who has a similar pain, to have the tests instead. The next he hears, his fri... Read more
A seemingly common criticism of the media is that its coverage isn't balanced. This begs the question - what would truly balanced coverage look like? Discussing the positive aspects of an issue 50% of the time and the negative aspects of an issue the other 50% isn't necessarily balanced, after all. Car crashes are a good example of this. When they're discussed in the news, 50% of the alloted talk time isn't dedicated to how the world has benefited from them. So what would truly balanced coverage of (as an example) the Iraq war look like? If it isn't 50/50, what would it be? And, of course, how would we even recognize it when we saw it? Just because something "feels" balanced, doesn't necessarily mean that it is.
Amy Kind
April 10, 2006
(changed April 10, 2006)
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My colleague Carrie Figdor, who turned to philosophy after a successful career for many years as a journalist, has this to say in response:
"It’s probably too simple to think of balance in terms of a ratio; it doesn’t require us, for example, to give voice at all, let alone equal time, to Holocaust... Read more
What is analogy? I read Wikipedia's article on the subject and I found it a bit vague or something (for my poor brain, at least...). Is analogy the same as metaphor? Is analogical thinking non-scientific? As far as I see it, politicians are always drawing on analogies. Isn't that just rhetoric? I searched your site and I found the word "analogy" several times, but its use never seemed decisive to answer the questions.
Peter Lipton
November 12, 2005
(changed November 12, 2005)
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The simplest form of inductive reasoning follows the principle 'more of the same': if we have seen a pattern and have no special reason to think it will change, then we tend to predict that it will stay the same. We have noticed in the past that fire has been hot, so we predict it will be... Read more
Is extreme (very violent) consensual sadomasochism morally wrong? If so, should it be against the law to cause injury by this practice? Or would it be a 'private' matter?
Peter S. Fosl
November 12, 2005
(changed November 12, 2005)
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The old principle of liberty that one can do what one likes so long as it doesn't harm others (famously formulated by John Stuart Mill) is challeneged by this sort of issue. What if someone consents to being harmed or even asks to be harmed? Can one consent to be another's slave? My vie... Read more
According to Descartes' demon hypothesis, would it be possible for the demon to deceive us about the rules of logical inference e.g. could my belief in the law of non-contradiction be caused by the demon?
Peter S. Fosl
November 12, 2005
(changed November 12, 2005)
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May I weigh in a bit? I think that panelists are right to suggest that while the dream argument addresses the veracity of perception about the world, the demon argument goes farther and addresses mathematical and logical inferences. I'd like, however, to return to Peter Lipton's question... Read more
Socrates said, "All I know is that I know nothing". What I'm trying to figure out is this: if I know NOTHING, how do I KNOW that I know nothing? It just goes round in circles thus becoming nothing more than a paradox. Would you agree?
Jyl Gentzler
November 13, 2005
(changed November 13, 2005)
Permalink
Peter is right. Many have taken the Socrates of Plato’s early dialogues to be a skeptic at least with regard to knowledge of the most worthwhile things. My own view is that, at least as he’s represented in the Platonic dialogues, Socrates is not a skeptic. He did not believe that it wa... Read more
Following a class discussion of Augustine's position on slavery, a student in my Ancient Political Theory class made the claim that slavery was essentially good and necessary for the United States. When I began to think about all the ways to refute this claim, I came across another question: "Can slavery be morally justified?"
Peter S. Fosl
November 12, 2005
(changed November 12, 2005)
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No, it can't be morally justified.Frankly, that's all that really need be said. Indeed, I must say I find asking the question today in a serious way to itself be morally unjustifiable. It suggests a kind of negligence with regard to learning about the moral accomplishments of our civilz... Read more